It was our daughter's first day of school. Bravely clutching her new red lunchbox, she stood between her older brother and me. The teacher told her to put the lunchbox under the table, alongside about twenty-five other lunchboxes. Apparently that seemed to her like an illogical place. So she looked up at the teacher and said, "Why?"
Her eight-year-old brother was mortified. "Clara, you've got a lot to learn," he said, taking the lunchbox from her and putting it under the table. Then, he gave her some brotherly advice: "One of the most important things about school is that you're NEVER, EVER SUPPOSED TO ASK QUESTIONS!"
Today, my daughter's a teacher herself. She's learned—as I did from my years in teaching—that questions aren't a bad thing at all. Matter of fact, good students usually have lots of questions. They have constructive, probing questions that show they're engaging with the subject. That they're thinking for themselves. That they're not afraid to challenge old assumptions, old belief systems, old myths. And that they're ready to push into new territory—to take on new frontiers.
